Fuel systems for internal combustion engines typically include a fuel tank for storing a volume of fuel that will be supplied to the internal combustion engine by a fuel pump. When such fuel systems are provided for a motor vehicle, the fuel system also commonly includes a fuel reservoir positioned within the fuel tank. The fuel reservoir provides a volume of fuel which is filled by fuel from the fuel tank. The fuel pump is positioned within the fuel reservoir in order to ensure an adequate supply of fuel is available to the fuel pump when the fuel tank is not full and dynamics of the motor vehicle may cause the fuel within the fuel tank to slosh or migrate to an area of the fuel tank away from the fuel reservoir. In order to maintain a sufficient level of fuel within the fuel reservoir, a jet pump, powered by pressurized fuel from the fuel pump, is used to aspirate fuel from the fuel tank into the fuel reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,505,644 to Coha et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety and referred to hereinafter as Coha et al., describes a fuel system which includes a fuel tank which is partitioned into a primary fuel tank portion and a secondary fuel tank portion. The fuel pump and fuel reservoir are located within the primary fuel tank portion along with a duel barrel jet pump assembly which is provided to refill the fuel reservoir from both the primary fuel tank portion and the secondary fuel tank portion. A first barrel of the dual barrel jet pump assembly aspirates fuel from the primary fuel tank portion while a second barrel of the duel barrel jet pump assembly aspirates fuel from the secondary fuel tank portion via a transfer tube. Due to the length of the transfer tube, the time needed to prime the transfer tube may take sufficiently long that certain conditions may exist that the fuel pump may empty the fuel reservoir before the transfer tube can be primed. By way of non-limiting example only, this situation may occur when the fuel level within the fuel tank is low and the internal combustion engine supplied by the fuel pump is operated in a high fuel consumption manner and the motor vehicle is operated in a highly dynamic manner as may be experienced in a racing environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,354 to Meese et al., referred to hereinafter as Meese et al., discloses a fuel system with a fuel tank similar to that of Coha et al. Unlike Coha et al., Meese et al. does not include a fuel reservoir, and consequently is only concerned with transferring fuel from the secondary fuel tank portion to the primary fuel tank portion. In order to accomplish this, Meese et al. provides a jet pump within the secondary fuel tank portion which is operated by pressurized fuel from the fuel pump. Since the jet pump is located within the secondary fuel tank portion, the priming time is reduced compared to that of Meese et al. However, this reduced time in priming comes at the expense of added cost and complexity of delivering high pressure fuel to the secondary fuel tank portion. While not disclosed by Meese et al., it is known in the art to provide a jet pump within the secondary fuel tank portion to refill a fuel reservoir within the primary fuel tank portion.
What is needed is a fuel supply system which minimizes or eliminates one or more of the shortcomings as set forth above.